Director: David Frankel
Writer: Aline Brosh McKenna, based on characters created by Lauren Weisberger
Cast: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Justin Theroux, Kenneth Branagh, Patrick Brammall, B.J. Novak, Lucy Liu, Simone Ashley

It’s been twenty years since the devil last donned Prada, and there’s been a gaping hole in our lives ever since. The first film, based on the book by Lauren Weisberger, was one of those ‘make-over’ movies that saw a drab, freshly post-college early twenty-something take her first steps into the big wide world, and finding that she doesn’t fit in, determines to change herself rather than remain true to her own morals, morals that she rediscovers by the end while retaining any physical changes she underwent in order to be ‘taken seriously’. Yeah, that kind of storyline hasn’t really aged well, and yet The Devil Wears Prada remains a firm favourite with people of a certain age due to a certain charm and its undeniable aesthetics. Does the sequel make some positive changes of its own in order to be relevant to a modern audience while keeping its charm, or does it retain too much of its outdate ways?

Journalist Andy Sachs (Hathaway) has spent twenty years away from Runway, the magazine where she got her start as an assistant to editor-in-chief and notorious hard-ass Miranda Priestly (Streep). When she is laid off from her current job, Andy is scouted and hired as the features editor at Runway, her first assignment being to put out the fire of a recent scandalous story published by the fashion magazine. This also means winning back the trust of advertisers, including Dior, for whom Andy’s old Runway colleague Emily (Blunt) now works. Although Miranda struggles to get onboard with a more stringent HR department and moving Runway to digital platforms, it comes to light that Miranda is looking at a serious promotion, but as soon as something happens to threaten said promotion and the future of Runway, Andy, along with Emily and Runway stalwart Nigel (Tucci), races to find a way to save Miranda and the magazine.

While the first film does indeed have its problems regarding outdated ideas about how to ‘break in’ to the journalism sphere, specifically fashion, or any seriously gate-kept industry, the characters are mainly what keep us returning to the film every so often, particularly the schadenfreude of Miranda’s treatment of anyone who crosses her path, the backhanded compliments and ‘Emilyisms’ that are harsh but also kind of funny (as many things are when you’re not on the receiving end), and the bitingly honest views with a side of support from Nigel. Perhaps we viewed them as exaggerated versions of real people, but now that the target audience of the original film are firmly in adulthood and have been for some time, we’ve all definitely met at least one person we could name a Miranda or Emily. To that end, the characters have certainly changed, but fortunately in the way we would expect them to later in life. They have each grown in their own way and are a solid reflection of the last twenty years of life and work experiences, none more so perhaps than Andy, who, as is noted by Emily in one scene, has grown hugely in confidence and, dare I say, good humour. And thank Gucci she did, because to have her flapping around and not knowing her Chanel from her Versace again while WORKING FOR A FASHION MAGAZINE would have been too much to bear. Miranda still has a fierce bite, though it is a little blunted by political correctness and an assistant who is very much up-to-date on HR business, Emily continues to be scathing but with a softer side after two kids and a divorce, and Nigel is as loyal to Miranda and supportive of Andy as ever while being the real lynchpin of Runway.

If it was the fashion that kept you returning to the first film, you will likely be thrilled with the level of labels in this sequel. Not only do we have a veritable smörgåsbord of names, the film is also graced by designers and models popping up as themselves, along with an on-brand performance from Lady Gaga. The first film took us to Paris for a fashion appetiser, this one takes us to Milan for a full meal (unless you’re Emily, in which case you’re stuck with a cube of cheese). The story itself suitably reflects the modern age of digital readership amongst publications, as well as the selling-of-souls that is social media marketing and clickbait, that has caused the downfall of print in the last decade. Andy and co try their darndest to keep Runway relevant while not losing its core, but to the point where Andy’s lack of vision for the future and idealistic views comes across as a desperate elder trying to hold on to the past, and the plot ends up catering to that rather unrealistically. If we were to return to Runway in another twenty years, we’d likely see hide nor hair of a paper copy, perhaps not even the infamous ‘book’ or a features section at all (sad, but potentially true). However, there is enough plot to keep us fed while putting aside Andy’s inability to move forward.

As mentioned, the evolution of the main ensemble is probably what has given this film its legs. Meryl Streep slips perfectly back into Miranda’s Manolos and gives her extra depth where her boomer-like struggles with modern technology are concerned, as well as lightening up just a tad in her personal life while still having that irascible streak we all love and fear. Emily Blunt gives us even more fantastic Emilyisms (“May the bridges I burn light my way” being a particular favourite) and, just like Streep, grounds her more this time around after life has been lifeing. Stanley Tucci gives us back everything we loved about Nigel the first time around, and though he has less of an evolution than the women, as he is stuck in the same role he’s always had, if we could allow any character to stay recognisable, it would be Nigel. Anne Hathaway’s Andy was always the least interesting of the bunch, and not to offend the average viewer, but perhaps that’s because she’s always been us. We rarely find ourselves interesting, and thus she is the window to this crazy world through which we peer; we don’t need her to be another exaggerated character amongst the rest, yet she has grown in every way we would expect, which is very satisfying.

In many respects, this sequel does what most sequels fail to do in being a genuine step up from its predecessor. It has kept up with the times without making it obvious or making too light of modern values when it comes to the workforce while staying true to its love letter to fashion that it originally wrote twenty years ago. The characters have developed in a realistic way in spite of some of their more elaborate traits, the plot is sensible, the story thematic and the dialogue genuinely funny at times. This doesn’t need to be the next big Oscar-winning epic, it just needs to fit like the comfy old (I mean, vintage Dolce) sweater that we would wear when we need a little pick-me-up and comforting.